Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
We’re shaping a boldly inclusive future that centers people at the heart of our practice.
Artists, designers, architects, and writers have a distinct ability to lead cultural change. It’s one of the most exciting aspects of engaging in a creative life. It’s also an immense responsibility. At CCA, we take care to nurture and investigate this paradigm, anchored by our core values of social justice, community engagement, cultural diversity, and sustainability. Students learn to integrate compassion and integrity into their work, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging principles inform every campus life and operations decision we make.
Our definitions
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging principles are an intentional way of moving through the world. It is how we ensure every person has every opportunity to thrive. We're open and transparent about how these definitions—derived from equity center research across higher education—connect us as a community. We invite you to join our shared understanding of each.
Diversity is representation
Diversity comprises all aspects of human difference from socially dominant constructs. This includes (but is not limited to) race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, ability, religion, spirituality, physical appearance, sex, nationality, neurodiversity, geography, culture, and language.
Equity is action
Equity eliminates disparities of opportunity, resources, and outcomes for historically underrepresented populations, consistent with the college’s commitment to empower every member of CCA to fully participate and thrive.
Inclusion is culture
Inclusion ensures opportunities and pathways for participation and engagement — in all aspects of the college, including decision-making processes. Inclusion is not a natural consequence of diversity. There opportunities must be intentionally designed, active, ongoing, and consistent efforts to create and sustain a participative environment.
Belonging is the ethos
Belonging is a condition that’s created when barriers are removed and when systems are designed to ensure people are seen, valued, and supported in their full identities. Belonging cultivates a feeling in the individual that they are valued and they are safe. After the individual’s basic needs are met, the door is opened to experience this sense of belonging. It conveys that they are indispensable to the group. A sense of belonging is relational, reciprocal, and dynamic.
Collective framing
We pursue a “shared equity leadership” framework, an organizing principle that defines, directs, and distributes equity-conscious values into institutional practices. Simply put: We’re all part of this work. Participatory decision-making across every campus community creates and sets expectations by which diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging goals are achieved, and our shared framework supports the continued social and anti-racist education of our students, faculty, and staff.
Land acknowledgment
Land acknowledgment confronts our place on unceded territories of Chochenyo and Ramaytush Ohlone peoples and builds mindfulness of our present participation in colonial legacies. As faculty, staff, and students, we stand in solidarity with local Indigenous communities, respect local Indigenous protocol, and teach and promote greater public consciousness of Native sovereignty and cultural rights. Our acknowledgment is only a first step as we engage in ongoing relationships with Indigenous communities and support Indigenous sovereignty, visibility, and futures.
Much like the iterative process of creative practice, the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is never done. We center design thinking practices in our approach to shaping a boldly inclusive future. Dialogue, critique, and iteration are core to our efforts.
Visionary Practice Scholarship
It’s important for prospective students from diverse backgrounds and experiences to be seen and heard in the admissions process. Criteria for receiving the Visionary Practice Scholarship centers on how a student’s story amplifies their personal achievements, as well as how they envision it will give rise to their creative practice in the future.
Creative Citizens in Action
Creative Citizens in Action (CCA@CCA) weaves creative activism and democratic engagement into the college curriculum through public programs, exhibitions, and classroom connections.
The Center for Art and Public Life
Today’s CCA students are tomorrow’s creative citizens—changemakers who progress their communities forward. The Center for Art and Public Life (CAPL) promotes positive social impact by cultivating and sustaining meaningful connections with CCA students, faculty, and members of Bay Area Communities and beyond. Initiatives include CAPL Connects, a paid fellowship program; Learning Labs, which connects coursework with civic partners; and the Impact Awards, a student funding opportunity.
Every member of the CCA community generates and builds on the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. It is centered in the classroom through curriculum models and is visible in our student exhibitions and events. It is critical to our thought leadership.
Student-centered support
The Office of Student Belonging and Inclusion (OSBI) advocates for and uplifts the voices of BIPOC students, women, LGBTQIA+ students, first-generation students, and other underrepresented populations. From orientation to commencement, the OSBI guides students throughout their entire CCA experience with community-building events, gatherings, and more.
Help develop anti-racist practices and envision what CCA can be for all. Attend events, join an identity-based club like Manos Abiertos or Black Brilliance, bookmark our community-sourced resources, sign up for newsletters, and share your feedback. What do you want to learn? Where are the gaps? How can we do better? We’re here for it all—and for each other.
Stay up to date
Subscribe to our community newsletters to engage with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work across the college. Find out about upcoming meetings and engagement opportunities, whether for students, faculty, alums, or staff.